Salihovic Delivers in Men's Soccer's 1-1 Draw at Lees-McRae

BANNER ELK, N.C. - Pfeiffer University’s Fahret Salihovic (Charlotte, N.C.) bent in a free kick with less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation time to propel the Falcons to a 1-1 draw against the Lees-McRae College men’s soccer team in Conference Carolinas play on Saturday evening at Tate Field. Lees-McRae (7-2-1, 4-0-1 CC) outshot the Falcons (1-4-3, 1-2-1 CC) by a 19-5 margin, including an 11-3 advantage in the second half.

David Palmer (Gateshead, U.K.) tallied his fourth goal of the season early in the first half as each of the match’s two goals were solo strikes.Palmer opened the scoring early in the seventh minute, making a run down the left flank and cutting inside a defender, sent a fantastic bending strike over the keeper’s head and into the net to put the Bobcats up 1-0.

Lees-McRae would hold the narrow margin until the 82nd minute, when the Bobcats committed a key foul just outside their penalty area, setting up a wonderful curling free kick from Salihovic off the far post to even the score at 1-1 and send the match into extra time.Neither side could muster many quality chances in extra time, with the best opportunity of the additional periods coming in the 102nd minute, when Palmer was put in perfect striking position inside the penalty area before sending the finish wide of the post.

The Falcons will return to action on Tuesday afternoon traveling to Florence, S.C. for a 4:00 p.m. matchup with the Francis Marion Patriots.